A Test of Loyalty
by TeamRocketGirl
Summary: Can James pass a test of loyalty?


A Test of Loyalty - By Stephanie Wright.

The young red haired woman yawned as she again went over the results of the last experiment. She had been down here for almost eighteen hours without so much as a nap, well no matter it kept her busy, it kept her from reliving that fateful day in her mind and in her dreams.

That day...the day everything went horribly wrong, it started out usual enough, come up with plan, plan fails, blast off and get the rest of the day to work on being lazy with her best friends... Too bad, her temper wouldn't let her live her real life with such easygoingness. She gotten terribly angry when they're place of landing happened to be a extremely cold lake in the middle of December. So she just had to take her frustrations out on James, and he wasn't in too good a mood to deal with her usual hotheadedness. After several minutes of heated fighting she finally walked off, telling him not to bother waiting for her, she wasn't coming back...

She was angry, she hadn't meant that, she just needed to blow off some steam with some alone time. When she came back, she was utterly surprised to find him gone.

By the time, she made it back to headquarters, she heard that he had come in not to long ago, to be reassigned, but he wasn't given a new partner, in fact Meowth was separated from him as well. She was completely disheartened to find out, he wasn't going to be her partner anymore. She was however comforted by the fact Meowth was given the option to stay with her instead of going off on his own as well, and he eagerly took it. At least she had one of her friends...

She stroked the sleeping cat in her lap lovingly, they had really gotten close over the last few months, confiding in each other just how much they missed their male human teammate. Meowth was the only friend she had now, and she was grateful for it. About a month ago, she had almost booked herself a flight to find James and beg him to come back to the team, but when she found out about all of his success, she couldn't do it. He would probably only think she was trying to use him...

Now she poured herself into her new job as a Team Rocket scientist, it kept her focus from her overwhelming depression. She looked over the last few pages with deattached interest but when she reached the last paragraph, she read something that made her blood run cold.

"Oh, dear god..."

"Ahh, James," Giovanni spoke, swooning with pride, "Another mission expertly completed. How did I ever miss how talented you are? Its such a shame you were stuck on a such a losing team for so long, your making me rich, do you know that? Which will in turn make you rich..."

James cut him off, "We both know what I want, and it's not money."

"Yes, well, all in good time, but I have a mission for you that is rather delicate, and one you might find rather interesting. I need you get some information from one of my female scientists in the Biotic Warfare division and then bring her back hear."

James was then handed a print out with her picture in it confirming his immediate suspicions.

_Jessie . . ._

She pulled her jacket tighter around her small frame as stepped out of the Seventy-Ninth Police Precinct. She scanned the area for any suspicious individuals who might have followed her, Team Rocket kept high surveillance on its members so her betrayal to Team Rocket put her into extreme danger. It was just a matter of time before she ran into one of Giovanni's elite agents come to take care of her. She knew they were coming and they're relentless, she just hoped she wouldn't be caught by him.

She stepped off the stoop and walked briskly, or as fast as she could without drawing attention to herself, down the street until she found an empty alley way, she had to stay in the shadows if she wanted to stay alive.

"Well, well, Jessie, it's been a while..."

She turned abruptly towards the familiar voice behind her, she would know that voice anywhere.

"Not you, James..."

"Oh, god," was the last thing she muttered before she started running.

She was moving as fast as her legs could carry her when she came to a abrupt halt when faced with choice of right or left, just as she turned left she was slammed against the wall nearly knocking the wind right out of her. Before she could even struggle, a wet cloth was placed over her mouth and nose. The last thing she saw was the satisfied grin adorning her attractive ex-partner's face as she lost her freedom to unconsciousness.

She awoke to find herself lying on her side on a bed while James was caressing her cheek with the back of his finger tips.

She flinched at his touch, and tried futilely to move out of his reach. "Why are you afraid, what reason have you to be afraid of me?" he asked somewhat hurt by her fear, even though maybe his idea of a reunion was a bit unorthodox. He had just had to make sure she wouldn't try to run away, he knew what this looked like, but she really needed help. He would fix this somehow and it would be alright. Everything would be fine, after all he was Giovanni's most successful agent, he would listen to James' reasoning and Jessie would be fine.

He may have been able to maintain an air of self-control on the outside but on the inside he felt an emptiness within himself dissipate just a bit when he gazed into her eyes, yet that didn't mean he wasn't still angry with her...even though getting her back was all he ever wanted or thought about since their separation. He had jumped at the opportunity to see her again, he couldn't deny his feelings for her involved love, but also pain and anger. But now he was angry at her for a different reason, a far more serious one, she might ruin all of his plans if what the reports said about her were true.

He continued. "Have you done something wrong, that you need to be afraid of repercussions from our place of employment?"

"I'm not afraid of you, James, your just one of Giovanni's little puppets!" she spit out angrily.

Just because he realized he loved her, didn't mean he was going to let her continue to act the way she had in the past. He was different in that way now, he was respected, and wouldn't tolerate anything less. He gripped her chin firmly so as to make direct eye contact with the woman before him. "You will watch how you talk to me, Jessica, I'm not the spineless coward I was when we were partners. I am the top agent in Team Rocket and you will show me respect. Now lets get down to business. Why were you talking to the police? Or better yet, what did you tell them?"

Before she could say a thing, he narrowed his eyes at her, and spoke in a low, almost dangerous tone: "This will only get worse if I find out your lying, and you know I know you well enough to know when your lying, believe me that it would be in your best interests to tell the truth." He knew he was being a bit rough with her but time was of the essence and he knew he needed to make her realize what she did was incredibly dangerous.

"I didn't tell them a goddamn thing, now get your fucking hands off me!" She tried to get up but he blocked her path, he let go of her chin to grip her shoulders tightly, and stare her hard in the eye. It was confusing being near her, she was breaking his usually cold, emotionless demeanor. She was melting the rough defenses he had built up to survive being separated from his friends. "Then what were you doing talking to the cops!??! Do you have a death wish??"

She ignored his question, he was making her so flustered with all this close contact after such a long, horrible separation so she desperately tried to change the subject. "Top agent, James? I didn't think you had it in you. I guess that's when your heart turned to stone..."

He loosened his grip slightly when she revealed what she thought of him now. "Not that it would matter to you, but it happened after you left me."

"I walked off angry, you should have known I would have come back, you were the one who requested a new partner like our years of friendship mattered nothing."

His eyes lit up for a for second when she told him she was going to come back to him but darkened when he thought about the fact that all though she admitted she was going to come back she never actually did. "Why didn't you come for me? You gave up and ran away just as quickly as I did...My Jes-...partner wouldn't have given up so easily..."

"Well, James...I thought you might believe I wanted you back only to share in your success, I couldn't bring myself to letting you believe that I was just after you for your money... I was too late..."

"It was never too late, Jessie, I missed you terribly, I have been working so hard lately in hopes of finally getting you and Meowth back as my partners... whether you wanted it or not..." he looked down, a mischievous grin curved on his lips.

"You were going to get me back?"

"Yea...I knew you missed me too, we belong together, which reminds me of my point, why the fuck were you talking to the cops, do you want to get killed?"

She tried to get up again but he still didn't move, "We need to figure this out..." he almost pleaded with her.

"It was the right thing to do, James, I have to try and stop him..."

"He'll kill you, you know, I can't lose you, not when I just got you back..."

"I don't want you to lose me either...but I have to do something...I had too, please understand. I couldn't let Giovanni release that on mankind, it would spell the end of the world...I had to stop him somehow and I didn't know what else to do...I had no where else to turn..."

"Not anymore," he told her as pulled her into his embrace even closer, and kissed her longingly. "If you run, I run..." he told her as their actions became more heated with the desire to make up for lost time.

"I love you, Jessie," he told her as his kisses began to trail down her neck.

Just then a loud explosion erupting to the left of them, smoke began to fill the air and several men in black combat uniforms charged in, surrounding the frightened couple.

Giovanni entered through the commotion to stand arrogantly before his wanted traitor and his most esteemed agent obviously in a compromising position only moments before according to their close proximity. "Well, what do we have here? I should have known you would screw this up, James, you were always so weak when it came this... person who dares to wear my uniform... after her betrayal... You shall pay for your crimes, Jessica, be sure of that... Now it seems that you won't be the only one..."

"No! James has nothing to do with this! I was just trying to seduce him as a way to escape! Please don't punish him for being a man...surely you understand the beauty I possess..." she tried desperately to save her friend from the same fate as her, although she was badly stuttering her words as she knew that it meant signing her own death warrant by outright admitting to her betrayal. "I will tell you what I told them, just please only punish me, James had nothing to do with this!"

"Very well, I will be generous, but only because James has been so successful... If you cooperate, he lives, although you know your cooperation will not save you..."

"Fine," she told them, she was then firmly grabbed by two different Rocket grunts and taken from the room. James had to be held back, "No, you can't take her! Let me go, you bastards!"

"Watch your mouth, or you will suffer the same fate as her," Giovanni hissed at him.

Jessie looked back as she was dragged from the room, "I love you, James, please don't try to rescue me, I deserve this, I can't allow you to suffer for what I did..."

"Smart words for once," Giovanni taunted in a low tone.

"James!" Meowth yelled at blue haired young man sitting in a chair clutching the sides of his head, tears streaming down his face. "What are you doing here, crying, you need to think of some way to save her!"

"How am I going to do that, Meowth," James muttered angrily through clenched teeth. "She sacrificed her life to save me...I'm not strong enough to save her..." he said with a dreamy expression, he looked like he was losing it...

Meowth jumped up and scratched him across the face, "Snap out of it! All this time, she loved you and missed you, every night I would hear her crying in her room, she sacrificed her life probably to try and make up for her mistake of leaving you, she probably did it just to prove to you that she loves you, and now you need to save her."

James, felt the pain of the scratches a few seconds later and immediately snapped out of his daze, "Your absolutely right, if it's the last thing I do, I'll save her, or die trying, whatever happens I'm going to be with her!"

She tried to walk with as much dignity as possible as the guards escorted the pale girl to her fate. One tear slipped out the corner of her eye as she entered a small white panel room, it was empty save for four men in black fatigues with rifles, two on each side of the door. She had been told of her fate just last night before a small tribunal after she had been interrogated for several hours that she was to die by firing squad the next day. She was being punishing for betraying Team Rocket. The worst part was that she would probably never see James again. She knew they wouldn't let her see him. She had begged but was ignored. Why should they give her anything else, she had already used up her last bit of bargaining power to keep him alive. When she resigned herself to her fate, she made one more request: to be given make up and clothes so that she could die as beautiful as she lived. This was granted, but added little in the way of comfort for facing her last few hours. When she stared at her own face in the mirror for what most likely would be the last time, she couldn't overcome this great feeling of emptiness. She had finally admitted her feelings to James, and now it seemed she had run out of time. She closed her eyes and whispered to herself, "This is right..." as Giovanni gave his statement why they were all gathered here today.

"Now a little surprise for you, Jessie," she turned to direction he was pointing, she gasped when she saw her surprise:

"James..." she whispered under her breath...

"Jessie..." James stared longingly at the girl before him, she looked so beautiful at that moment, even though he could tell she probably was about to be sick. She looked deathly pale...

"James," Giovanni began, "I have granted the request of your ex-partner over there, I will not kill you as well, but I need to know that your loyalty is to me, you will execute her, as a test of loyalty, if you do not carry out my order, you will be terminated as well..."

"James, do what he says, please, don't let him kill you for me, I'm not worth it, James, I love you, and don't want to see you get hurt...Please just do this.. It will happen either way, but least i'll die knowing you are safe from harm... I love you too much let you die for me..." Jessie was in tears by the time she finished.

"Jessie, no..." just then a Rocket grunt came up and handed him one of the standard Rocket semi-automatic hand guns. He looked down and watched numbly as the gun was placed in his hands.

He looked up at her, and she managed a smile through the stream of mascara laced tears cascading from her sad eyes. She nodded at him when he gave her a confused look. He nodded right back at her, and raised the gun up.

"Have you finally realized your mistake, James," Giovanni asked, a triumphant smirk was painted all over his features.

"Yes, sir, I made the mistake of ever letting someone like," he faced Jessie, but Giovanni was utterly surprised to find himself faced with a gun less than a second later, "you, for ever keep me from being with the girl I loved, and your mistake is ever letting someone who's love was on the line have a loaded gun..."

Now it was James who had the triumphant smirk lighting up his handsome face. "You two, release her now, or Boss man gets it..."

The guards reluctantly released her after a fierce nodding of his approval from Giovanni. Jessie could barely stand from the final end of her emotional roller coaster, but she managed to weakly make her way over to James, where she clung to him for dear life.

James lowered his voice to a threateningly quiet and serious tone, "Now we won't bother you, as long as we never see your face or any of your members near us again, you know what I am capable of, boss, you know my skills and how easy and highly likely I could take you out..."

"And don't worry about the police, Giovanni," Jessie finally spoke up, "they thought I was crazy anyway...they thought it was ludicrous to believe that the leader of Team Rocket had infiltrated they're precious Pokemon Gym Association and was performing secrets tests in hope of one day dominating the planet. What fools..."

Smoke filled the room as James threw down a smoke bomb to make their escape clean and easy. She kissed him hungrily in thanks as they reached the fresh air of the outside. "Come on, Jess, Meowth is waiting with a car not far from here, we can get to catching up properly when we are safe and as far away from here as possible."

"James, I just want to let you know you passed your test of loyalty..." she told him, her eyes staring adoringly into his.

Epilogue-

Well, Giovanni didn't come after Jessie and James. Mostly because he didn't have time to strike out in retaliation against them, he was incredibly sore to find out that Jessie had been lying about the police and their opinion of her story. The police had been suspecting Giovanni for a long time and now they had real reason to try and get to the bottom of the mysterious gym leader. So the next day, Giovanni, and most of his elite members, were taken down in a raid by the police. Unlucky for Team Rocket, most of it's secret labs were set up in the building that was raided, this ensured Giovanni would never see the light of day ever again.

Most of the members who got away had no reason to try and go after Jessie and James, knowing that if they wanted to stay out of jail a low profile was the best course of action. Most of the members were happy just to get Giovanni off their backs, so they to could lead normal lives free from fear. Leaving no one who cared to come after the young couple. Their names began to fade as time passed, no free members ever mentioned the red haired girl and blue haired boy who set them free, although each silently thanked the pair who rescued them from the evil clutches of Giovanni. It did seem they were safe from Giovanni and his evil Team Rocket.

As for the red haired girl and blue haired boy, within a few months, James proposed and Jessie whole heartedly accepted. Not more than a month later, after being awoken several mornings with strong feelings of nausea, Jessie went to visit a doctor and was overjoyed to learn the wonderful news that she was three weeks pregnant.

So Jessie and James, now pregnant with their first child, live together with Meowth, Arbok, Weezing, Victrebel, and yes, even Wobboffut, in a small remote cottage, where they all couldn't be happier.

With plans of opening a pokemon salon, a new child on the way, and everyone they ever cared about right there, it did indeed seem they had finally gotten their white tomorrow.


End file.
